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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24134539">i had a dream i got everything i wanted</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom'>Dawn_Blossom</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Grima's apocalypse succeeds only it's not as nice as he expected, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Regret, Time Travel, but the world Grima arrives in is one in which Chrom killed Robin, dark themes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:20:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24134539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For the first time ever, nothing burdens Grima’s shoulders. He exists in a state of complete freedom, all of his tasks completed and all of his threats eliminated.</p>
<p>And all he feels is misery.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chrom/Gimurei | Grima, Chrom/My Unit | Reflet | Robin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>167</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i had a dream i got everything i wanted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Can you say "self indulgence" lol? But you all know how I feel about my otp.</p>
<p>Title is from <a>everything i wanted</a> by Billie Eilish because it's been on my Chrom/Grima playlist for a while and then I heard it on the radio the other day and had Feelings</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For one thousand years, Grima slumbered, sealed away from the world. When he awoke, it took only one hundred years to obliterate humanity from the earth.</p>
<p>One hundred years. Practically a blink of an eye for an ancient god. Very anticlimactic, actually.</p>
<p>Grima should be ecstatic. He won. This is everything he ever wanted. No more worthless humans to plague his existence. He at long last burned his army of corpses to ash; now he does not even have to subject himself to the eyesore of their pathetic bodies.</p>
<p>Life still remains. Fish swim even in dirtied waters; new seeds sprout through the remains of devastated forests. Wait long enough (another blink of an eye) and Grima will be living in what the humans used to think of as paradise.</p>
<p>For the first time ever, nothing burdens Grima’s shoulders. He exists in a state of complete freedom, all of his tasks completed and all of his threats eliminated.</p>
<p>And all he feels is misery.</p>
<p>Of course he does. His burning fury choked and died without humans to keep feeding it. And what was left? What could be left but the despair he’s long-carried on his wings?</p>
<p>It’s terribly unfair. Why should he be forced to reflect? He knew what he was doing from the start. He is but a monster, as they all forced him to be. As he chose to be, so he could spite the treacherous creatures who could not even get along with those who were like themselves, much less those who were not…</p>
<p>But weren’t there a few decent ones? He cannot forget those children who fought at his side… They could not stay children, of course, and their bodies grew until the point of natural decay. Their spirits, once free, disappeared… Grima was alone, truly.</p>
<p>Isn’t that what he wanted?</p>
<p>Isn’t this ruined world all he ever wanted?</p>
<p>… No. For one fleeting instant there was something else. But it was nothing more than an illusion, something that could never be real, because…</p>
<p>
  <i>”This is not your— Your fault.”</i>
</p>
<p>That man would not have said as much if he had known the truth of who Grima was, had known the things he had done and would do. Even so…</p>
<p>
  <i>”We shall build a peaceful world, just you and me.”</i>
</p>
<p>Grima had truly wanted that. It wasn’t a lie. Even without realizing who he was destined to be, he looked at the world and he <i>knew</i> something had to change.</p>
<p>Grima remembers now that no one has ever ruled the world with love and so-called “bonds.” Everyone who has truly tried has ended up dead for their efforts. But if Chrom had lived, if there was any way the man could have survived both his enemies and his own too-lofty ideals, then perhaps… even if there is no such thing as peace among humans… together he and Grima could have...could have tried, couldn’t they?</p>
<p>Grima surveys his surroundings yet again. This is peace, isn’t it? He doesn’t think Chrom would like it even if he were here, though…</p>
<p>Tears begin to darken the dry soil he stands on. Grima wants to blame this pain on the weak human body he inhabits, on its incredibly fragile heart, but that isn’t the whole truth. Long before he held this form, the human blood from which he was forged had too much sway. Long before he hated the creatures, he had tried to walk among them. Humans had never done anything but hurt him, and yet somehow even their complete annihilation is a disappointment to him!</p>
<p>The one and only time Grima had ever felt happiness was when he had not known that he was reborn. And even then, it was only because one human strived to give him happiness at every turn.</p>
<p>“Now that I have seen the ending…” Grima whispers, this vessel’s voice having gone unused for some time, “I think the final chapter… should not have been written.”</p>
<p>But fate is fate. Grima cannot simply rewind the hands of time and change what has already been finalized.</p>
<p>That does not mean he is powerless. This world has seen its end, but there are countless others that run in parallel. All he has to do is find one in which this particular vessel does not exist, and then… He does not fully know what comes next. He will have to arrange a meeting with the Prince of Ylisse, for Grima is certain now that that man is the key to finding something better, however slim the possibility of it working may be. But even if it takes multiple attempts, Grima is a god, and he will not stop until he is satisfied.</p>
<p>Even if he is not sure what satisfaction will take.</p><hr/>
<p>When Grima awakes to the sight of a grassy plain, he knows he has successfully traveled to a different world. He recognizes his surroundings as being typical of southern Ylisse, but without any distinctive landmarks, he is not precisely sure where he has landed.</p>
<p>If his research is correct, there is no alternate version of his current vessel running around in this world. This is convenient for him now, though he supposes he will eventually have to deal with the question of where his soul is. At least he does not have to concern himself with the possibility of stumbling upon himself while wandering around.</p>
<p>He walks for an hour before human presence makes his location apparent. Southtown, a settlement about a day’s walk from Ylisstol, is looking… active. Not destroyed, obviously. As he gets closer and closer, Grima begins to hear the shouts of various merchants offering their wares. A few children shriek, and he winces. He does not like these humans. Just because he is seeking <i>one</i> in particular does not mean that the rest have suddenly become desirable. </p>
<p>He allows the cacophony to assault his ears, though, for the path running through the town is the quickest route to Ylisstol. If he closes his eyes, he can practically hear the screams of battles past…</p>
<p>Now that he thinks of it, he first met Chrom in this town. The Shepherds had come to save Southtown from bandits. Grima had independently come for the same purpose…</p>
<p>He frowns. At that time, he had not hated humans; he did not have full knowledge of what they had done. He had been angry because… Ah, it was because of the human woman who had birthed him… Bandits had killed her, and he had thought it was perhaps the same group… Of course he had wanted revenge. Even if it was not the same group, he would simply be punishing these criminals instead. He did not need his memories to know that humans were cruel and needed to be stopped. But that was not the end of the matter; he thought that if he was quick enough, he might save…</p>
<p>Innocent lives, but he cannot think of humans that way now. Even the young ones pick up cruelty as their mother tongue, learning to scorn others before they can even pronounce their own names.</p>
<p>Chrom, too, had wanted to save the townspeople. The quickest way to save them was to kill the bandits. Together, Chrom and Grima had been an unstoppable force… Chrom had not minced words, and neither had Grima. Grima had joined the Shepherds that very day. To protect the people of Ylisse. To destroy all that threatened them. Whichever angle you looked at it, the goal was the same. In those days, he had truly believed he was helping, that the Shepherds had more than a negligible effect on human wrongdoing…</p>
<p>“Um, mister…?” a child has the nerve to interrupt his thoughts. “Are you okay? ‘Cause you’re crying.”</p>
<p>Grima presses his hand to his face only to find that the child is correct. But what is he supposed to do about it? He swears if the creature in front of him dares to insult him for it, this <i>entire town can burn and this time there won’t be anyone to—</i></p>
<p>“You can have this,” the child says, pressing an object into Grima’s hand. </p>
<p>“An apple?” Grima asks incredulously, his voice slightly raspy. The thought of anyone, let alone a human child, giving the fell dragon a fruit is amusing enough that he does not simply crush the thing beneath his fingers immediately.</p>
<p>“Uh-huh. You sound sick,” the child says. “So you should really eat it now. An apple a day keeps the healers away!”</p>
<p>Somehow the child has internalized <i>this</i> saying rather than anything about not talking to strangers. Grima ought to teach the kid a lesson…</p>
<p>But in truth, Grima is… simply beyond caring at the moment. He destroyed all of humanity and it didn’t mean a thing; this child is even less significant. </p>
<p>And the child’s actions… were not cruel, after all.</p>
<p>He does not dignify the ridiculous situation by responding, however. He consumes the offered food only because his human body is finicky. He can sustain himself with his power; he does not <i>need</i> to eat. Nevertheless, there is something about the feeling of a filled stomach that gives him extra strength.</p>
<p>Extra strength that he will surely need once he arrives in Ylisstol.</p><hr/>
<p>There is something almost nostalgic about his trip to the capital city. Once, he would have called it “coming home.”</p>
<p>But it was never really <i>his</i> home. He was only ever there because of Chrom. And now, it is only because of Chrom that he is once again setting foot in the bustling city.</p>
<p>In retrospect, marching up to the castle like he belonged there was not a particularly well-reasoned decision. In his defense, not once since his reincarnation has it ever been a problem. He was always authorized, at least until Chrom’s death, and after that it no longer mattered. So he is not expecting the outrageously aggressive response from the castle’s guards.</p>
<p>“Is this some kind of sick joke?” asks a knight that Grima has no recollection of knowing.</p>
<p>One of the guards has a blade against Grima’s neck. The rest all have their weapons trained on him as well.</p>
<p>“What have I done to deserve a welcome like this?” Grima hisses, though he knows humans need no excuses. But at this castle… No… Neither Chrom nor his sister before him would accept this. What has happened in this world?</p>
<p>“Someone get Frederick!”</p>
<p>“Don’t let the Exalt see him or—”</p>
<p>“Don’t let me see what?” </p>
<p>A familiar voice catches Grima’s attention. But his view of the entrance is blocked by the damned guards.</p>
<p>“Chrom?” he stupidly calls out. A feeling like panic has gripped him at the thought of his plans being stifled all because these worthless humans are in his way. </p>
<p>“R…” Chrom’s voice falters. “Robin?”</p>
<p>Grima’s breath hitches. He went by that name for so short a time that it had started to feel like a dream. A dream of being human, a name he would have gone by if he was something other than himself…</p>
<p>But wait. Chrom should not be familiar with that name. Not in this world, where there is no human vessel to be christened “Robin.”</p>
<p>“Let me through,” Chrom demands.</p>
<p>“Your Grace, this imposter—”</p>
<p>“Imposter?” Grima scoffs, and the blade against him presses closer. “How dare you!”</p>
<p>He wants so badly to tear the creature violating his space into shreds. How prejudiced are these humans? They could accuse him of countless heinous crimes and be correct, yet they have somehow managed to pin on him something he <i>hasn’t</i> done. They have no idea of the situation!</p>
<p>“It… It can’t be…you… Can it?” Chrom whispers. </p>
<p>Grima glances up, locking eyes with the man who managed to capture Grima’s attention in a way no one else ever has. Pain claws at his chest and up his throat until all he can do is let it spill out of him.</p>
<p>“I missed you,” Grima chokes out. </p>
<p>Pathetic as it is, it’s the truth. He is the god who rid the world of humanity once and for all, yet a weakness was festering inside him the whole time, a horrible feeling that he had lost a part of his own soul in the reincarnation process.</p>
<p>Now he’s found it in the blue of Chrom’s eyes, and he remembers…</p>
<p>“Two halves…” he mutters, “of a… greater whole.”</p>
<p>Chrom’s eyes widen, then he blinks. His eyes begin to take on a glossy sheen of tears.</p>
<p>“Release him, release him!” Chrom orders the guards. “Robin… I don’t know how… Believe me, I’m so sorry…”</p>
<p>The guards are clearly reluctant to let Grima go, but unable to disobey a direct order, they slowly back away from him.</p>
<p>Now free, Grima isn’t quite sure what to do with himself. He staggers forward, reaching his hand out awkwardly until it connects with Chrom’s shoulder. The Brand of the Exalt is covered by a black fabric that does not match the rest of his attire. That is just fine. Grima will never forgive Naga for helping humanity conquer the world. She rewarded humans for their lust for power. Chrom looks better without her mark of arrogance displayed for all to see.</p>
<p>“Chrom, you…” Chrom is crying. He shouldn’t even know who “Robin” is, but he does and he is crying. “What happened here?”</p>
<p>This vessel doesn’t exist in this world.</p>
<p>“You don’t remember?” Chrom asks, confusion spreading across his reddened face.</p>
<p>Grima can guess, but… It should be impossible. He fought at Chrom’s side as a master tactician; there is no way he would have gotten himself killed on accident.</p>
<p>“Tell me inside,” Grima demands. He hasn’t noticed the chill of the air until now, but he realizes that he is shivering.</p>
<p>“Of course,” Chrom says. He places a hand on Grima’s back as though to steady him. But he doesn’t look particularly steady, himself.</p><hr/>
<p>No one is pleased to leave Chrom alone with Grima. It is hilarious; they are correct about how dangerous he is but so utterly wrong about who he desires to target. Chrom will be safe with him. The knights on the other hand... Oh, how grateful they should be that Chrom sent them away.</p>
<p>“Is this better?” Chrom asks, his gaze soft with concern. </p>
<p>Grima swallows thickly. No one has ever looked at him this way. In his own world, even Chrom had never worn an expression quite like this, like he was afraid Grima would evaporate into the air if he were to turn away.</p>
<p>“It is,” he says, crossing his arms. “Now, tell me the truth without stalling. What is going on here? You look like… like you haven’t seen me in a century.”</p>
<p>His lip curls at the irony. Shouldn’t <i>he</i> be the one looking at <i>Chrom</i> like he’ll disappear? Considering that once he learns who Grima really is, he will surely want to… </p>
<p>“Every minute without you has been a century in itself…” Chrom says.</p>
<p>Grima frowns. It certainly sounds like he met an untimely demise in this world… But it shouldn’t be possible!</p>
<p>“How did I die?” Grima asks. He isn’t in the mood for this game, no matter how convenient it is for him that Chrom has missed him too.</p>
<p>Chrom grimaces.</p>
<p>“No stalling, huh…” He chuckles humorlessly. “Robin… It is hard to tell you this when you don’t remember… but I killed you.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>There’s no way… Did Chrom find out that he was the fell dragon? But if he had, he wouldn’t have welcomed Grima back into his castle like this…</p>
<p>Chrom begins rambling as though Grima had asked for an explanation.</p>
<p>“I wish that I had not…” he says in a strained tone. “You begged me to do it, but that is no excuse. Becoming the fell dragon… How ridiculous. But I was afraid. The darkness had been growing around you, and your eyes had turned red. So when you said… And you had never been wrong about a strategy before… I didn’t try to stop you. I didn’t know what else to do. You said it had to be by the Falchion, and I… I just believed you…”</p>
<p>Grima is stupefied. Not because Chrom did what he was told, but because Robin would dare to ask…	</p>
<p>But thinking on the matter, it made sense. Fate had already dealt its hand. No one would ever want to be the fell dragon, but Grima could not simply choose to <i>not</i> be the fell dragon. The only possibility, if he wanted to escape being the fell dragon… was to not <i>be</i> at all.</p>
<p>“Chrom… You did the right thing,” Grima admits. “Believe me. I am not the friend you killed… I am what would have happened had he lived.”</p>
<p>Chrom shakes his head.</p>
<p>“How can you expect me to believe that?” he asks. “I… I knew you were probably not the same man I struck down… But to tell me I should have struck him down? How can you say that? You’re alive and unharmed! That’s all the reason I need to know I was wrong!”</p>
<p>Anger surges through Grima’s body. Of all the claims to doubt, why that one? Why the most painful truth of all?</p>
<p>“You don’t know!” he growls, slamming his hands down on both of Chrom’s shoulders. “I <i>won,</i> Chrom! I got everything I wanted! You remember enough of your own history to know what I’m talking about, do you not? The reason your bloodline pledged to Naga to fight me for all eternity! I destroyed the world, ridding it of every last human! Is that what you want for this one?”</p>
<p>“But… I…” Chrom stares at him, but not with hatred. Hatred would have been better. Hatred might have convinced Grima that he did not care so much for this singular human after all.</p>
<p>“I hate humans…” Grima says desperately. “I hate them all… except for you. I hate your ideals that will only get you killed. I hate your bloodline that tried to destroy me. But you… In all my existence, you were the only one to ever make me happy. And I have lived for thousands of years, Chrom. I saw all my goals accomplished, and still when I reflected, I felt not a trace of happiness. I should have felt peace in a world without humans, but… Without you, I…”</p>
<p>Warm hands wrap around him as Chrom pulls him closer… An embrace? Chrom is offering him comfort?</p>
<p>“I felt no peace without you, either,” Chrom murmurs. “I hate the people who have hurt me, too. And I’m sorry that I of all people am the only one who was able to make you happy. But if you ask me to kill you, too… I won’t be able to do it.”</p>
<p>Oh…</p>
<p>“No, I don’t want that,” Grima says. “I traveled to this world because I wanted to see you… No, to <i>live with you</i> once more. Even if I have to suffer all of humanity…”</p>
<p>“You can stay with me,” Chrom says, moving one hand to caress Grima’s cheek. “I will try to make you happy. But I am not sure that I know how.”</p>
<p>Grima closes his eyes. The feeling of Chrom’s skin against his soothes something inside him.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter,” he decides. If this single moment is the only thing he gets from this world, the trip will still have been worth it. “I will stand beside you and protect you.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to burden you with—”</p>
<p> “It’s not your fault,” Grima says, a twisted echo of something he will not allow to pass here. “I will do it because you are the only thing I care for.”</p><hr/>
<p>It sounds like a fairytale to those who hear of it. The brokenhearted Exalt reunites with the lover he thought was dead, and the two live happily ever after.</p>
<p>To those who knew Chrom and Robin personally, however, the tale goes a bit different. Robin returned to Ylisse a shadow of himself, and Chrom never truly put all the pieces of his heart back together again.</p>
<p>But the two were happy together, that much was certain. Robin was never spotted away from Chrom’s side, and every look they traded spoke of a love so deep that even the nation’s poets could not capture it in words.</p>
<p>Chrom’s reign as exalt was not like his sister’s, and it is generally agreed that it was only Robin’s influence that convinced him to stop trying to force it to be so. Nevertheless, Chrom worked tirelessly for justice in his own way, and the continent of Ylisse, not just the nation, prospered.</p>
<p>Alas, though Chrom was a beloved leader, his rule came to an end at a relatively young age. A planned trip to Chon’sin went wrong, leading to a watery grave for the fifty-year-old (though it was said they both looked at least twenty years younger) exalt and his beloved.</p>
<p>Though their bodies were never recovered, to hear the public tell it, their story ends as all tales of deep love do…</p>
<p>Their souls stayed together for all of eternity.</p>
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